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In brief | Nation & World, January 7, 2014

As demand for senior services grows, other seniors fill workforce

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — Paul Gregoline lies in bed, awaiting the helper who will get him up, bathed and groomed. He is 92 years old, has Alzheimer’s disease and needs a hand with nearly every task the day brings. When the aide arrives, though, he doesn’t look so different from the client himself — bald and bespectacled.

“Just a couple of old geezers,” jokes Warren Manchess, the 74-year-old caregiver.

As demand for senior services provided by nurses’ aides, home health aides and other such workers grows with the aging of baby boomers, so are those professions’ employment of other seniors. The new face of America’s network of caregivers is increasingly wrinkled.

Among the overall population of direct-care workers, 29 percent are projected to be 55 or older by 2018, up from 22 percent a decade earlier, according to an analysis by the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute, or PHI, a New York-based nonprofit advocating for workers caring for the country’s elderly and disabled. In some segments of the workforce, including personal and home care aides, those 55 and older are the largest single age demographic.

Girl declared brain dead moved from hospital; destination not disclosed

OAKLAND, Calif. — Acting with a court order, the family of a 13-year-old California girl declared brain dead after a tonsillectomy has had her taken from a California hospital to be cared for elsewhere, the family’s attorney says.

Jahi McMath was moved by a critical care team while attached to a ventilator but without a feeding tube, Christopher Dolan told The Associated Press.

She left from Children’s Hospital of Oakland in a private ambulance shortly before 8 p.m. Sunday, Dolan said. Her destination was not immediately disclosed.

“It was a very tense situation,” said Dolan. “Everybody played by the rules.”

David Durand, the hospital’s Chief of Pediatrics, said the girl was released to the coroner. The coroner then released her into the custody of her mother, Nailah Winkfield, as per court order, Durand said in an email.

The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney moved her family from Virginia to Wyoming to run for the seat. Her effort to replace Enzi, a Senate veteran, angered and upset many Republicans and her campaign faced a number of problems.

In November, Cheney said she opposed gay marriage, sparking a public feud with her sister, Mary, who is a lesbian and married.

Cheney will reportedly cite family reasons when she announces her withdrawal from the contest.

The development was reported by CNN, The New York Times and Politico.

South Korea’s president calls for reunions of families separated by war

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s president on Monday called for resuming reunions of families separated by war, expressing hopes that the humanitarian program would improve strained ties between the rival Koreas.

The call came amid lingering tensions on the Korean Peninsula following Pyongyang’s fiery rhetoric and threats of nuclear wars last spring. The two Koreas had planned to hold family reunions in September for the first time in three years but Pyongyang cancelled them at the last minute.

President Park Geun-hye told a televised news conference that she wants the reunions to take place on the occasion of the Lunar New Year’s Day later this month to “heal wounded hearts.”

Later Monday, South Korea sent a message proposing talks on Friday to discuss the reunions, according to Park’s Unification Ministry.